


Help a Girl Out

by brokenpromisesandhope



Series: Lumax [2]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Enemies to Lovers, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Fluff, High School, Racism, Swearing, Underage Drinking, Weddings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-11
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-09-16 01:16:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16944243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/brokenpromisesandhope/pseuds/brokenpromisesandhope
Summary: Max asks Lucas to pretend to be her boyfriend for one night.





	Help a Girl Out

**Author's Note:**

> I’m the most dramatic person I know, this is unedited cause I wrote this on a plane (can you tell this is my first time flying?) and like I LOVE MY CHOCOLATE SON AND RED HAIRED DAUGHTER  
> Xx  
> T 
> 
> Also this is a direct sequel to this:

“Sinclair!” Max barks. 

They’re leaving physics again and Lucas is so fucking tired and has basketball practice in twenty minutes. 

He turns slowly,  
“What’s up Maxine? Fail another test?” 

She rolls her eyes, 

“Oh get fucked. What are you doing this weekend?” 

His eyebrows shoot up, 

“I’m sorry, what?” 

She sighs, and like nervous, which Lucas has never seen. Her hair is in a high ponytail today and her cheeks are flushed, 

“Look. My family is really, concerned I don’t have a boyfriend, and my aunt is getting married this weekend, and I need a date.” 

Lucas stares,

“You can’t, you don’t have a boyfriend?” 

She rolls her eyes, 

“Clearly not if I’m asking you!” 

“Um, you can’t ask like,” 

“No Lucas, I fucking can’t! I always talk about how stupid everyone at this god for saken school is, and you’re the only one smart enough that my mom knows I’d actually date! I’m not asking for, you to, shit I don’t know. Just please wear a tux and dance with me to fucking, All of You, and drink free booze and eat free food.” 

Lucas stares at her. He doesn’t think she’s ever called him by his first name. Her face has gotten more red as she went on and she’s picking at her nails. 

“What day and what time?” 

And that’s why Lucas is at the Mayfield’s house. He’s never met Max’s mom, but when she opens the door she looks like the spitting image of her daughter. Her red hair is pulled back into an elegant bun thing, and she’s wearing dark pink lipstick, pearl drop earrings and a strapless, floor length, navy blue dress. 

“Miss Mayfield, you look wonderful.” 

She smiles wide and pulls him in for a hug, 

“So do you, Little Lucas Sinclair. Though I suppose you’re not little anymore. Max! Come on, Lucas is here and we’re gonna be late! You know how Heather gets!” 

“I thought the wedding wasn’t until four,” Lucas says. 

“Well it’s not, but Max and I are in it.” 

“Oh Jesus,” he mutters, as Max appears. 

She looks... amazing is an understatement. Her hair is up in the same bun, and she’s wearing makeup and earrings, and he’s known her for twelve years and he doesn’t think he’s ever seen her in a dress. She’s nearly as tall as him in her heels, and her face and chest are red, 

“You look, stunning,” he says slowly. 

“You don’t look too bad yourself,” she says softly, taking him in. She’d told him she was wearing navy so his bowtie matches her dress. 

“Thank you so much for driving Lucas, I plan on getting black out drunk after this,” 

“Mom!” Max hisses, heading to Lucas’ car. 

“What?! Heather is a nightmare and you know it.” 

“You agreed to be her maid of honor,” Max points out, watching Lucas, without question, help her mom up into his SUV. 

She turns to glare at her daughter,  
“I’m her only sister! She only has one friend!” 

Lucas tries and fails to cover a laugh and Ms.Mayfield pats his shoulder, 

“Besides, that’s why Lucas is here.” 

Once her mom is in the car, Lucas turns around to help her, 

“You didn’t tell me you were in the wedding,” he hisses. 

She winces, 

“Sorry. I figured you wouldn’t do it then.” 

“Well no shit!” 

Max winces again, 

“In the spirit of being honest,” 

“Oh god,” 

“You’re gonna be the only person of color there.” 

He stares at her, 

“Jesus Christ Max!” Though he really should have assumed. 

Before he knows it she’s digging French manicured nails into his arm, staring up at him with wide, eyeliner rimmed, blue eyes, 

“Please don’t leave,” she whispers back hastily. 

He pulls his arm away, 

“I’m not leaving,” and shuts the door. 

The venue isn’t far, and they’re there much too soon for Lucas’ liking. He parks and helps both women out of the car, and Ms.Mayfield waits patiently for him to get Max out of the car and presumably say his goodbyes. He shifts from foot to foot and watches Max’s face turn pink before quickly leaning in and kissing her cheek, 

“I’ll see you in a bit, babe,” he throws in belatedly. 

“Okay. Sounds good,” she says, voice a little hoarse. 

“You two are so adorable,” sighs Ms.Mayfield as they head up the stairs. 

Lucas follows slowly, pausing at the front door, before moving off to the side and pulling out his phone. Dustin answers on the second ring, 

“I’m freaking out.” 

“Hello to you too Lucas.” 

“Cut the shit. I’m, I’m at a wedding.”

“Who do you know who’s getting married?” He demands. 

“Max’s aunt.” 

“Hold, hold the fuck up! Max Mayfield?” 

Lucas sighs, 

“Yes.” 

“Dude, what the fuck?” 

“Okay, listen listen, she asked for me to be her date to her family off her back.” 

“And you agreed?!” Dustin shouts into his ear. 

“Yes, I don’t,” 

“Why? Lucas why would you do this? You hate her. She hates you! It’s a relationship of hate!” 

“She called me Lucas,” he says softly. 

“Oh GOD. Lucas, if you tell me you like this girl,” 

“I don’t like her!” Says Lucas quickly. 

“Oh my god you like her.” 

“Dustin, bro, I,” he runs a hand over his face, “I don’t fucking like Max Mayfield.” 

“Lucas, bro,” Dustin mocks, “You are a fucking liar.” 

“You’re not helping. I don’t know why I called you.” 

“What do you want from me Lucas? This is brand new information! I’m allowed to be shocked!” 

“Well text me when you’re less shocked, I’m going to find some booze.” 

“Don’t you get drunk and admit you looove her.” 

Lucas rolls his eyes, 

“You’ve been watching too many movies.” 

“I call it like I see it.” 

“Fuck you.” 

“Good luck,” says Dustin, right before Lucas hangs up. 

His phone tells him there’s a bar right down the street and he’s never been so thankful for Steve Harrington getting them fake id’s as in this moment. He just needs a beer to calm his nerves. This is.. brand new information. He likes Max Mayfield. Maxine Mayfield. Max motherfucking Mayfield. 

The bar is empty except for one other guy sitting at the counter, and the bartender, who’s polishing glasses. The guy’s wearing a suit too, and Lucas figures it’s a groomsmen, who’s stressed as well. 

He orders a Miller Lite and the guy looks up, 

“Cheers,” he holds up a glass of what looks like whiskey. 

He clinks his beer with the glass, 

“Cheers man.” 

The guy downs his drink and Lucas tries to not show his surprise. 

“Weddings make you nervous?” He asks, swallowing his beer. 

“When they’re mine.” 

“Oh shit,” Lucas turns to take him in. 

He’s an attractive guy, dark brown hair slicked back and dark eyes, the first few buttons of his tux undone, 

“Who are you?” He asks, “I don’t think we’ve met.” 

“Um, I’m Max’s boyfriend.” 

The guy looks him over, 

“No shit? Little Maxie Moo Moo, has a boyfriend.” 

Lucas chokes on his beer, 

“What did you just say?” 

“Oh shit, don’t tell her I told you that. Well, I’m glad she has someone. I’m Peter, her soon to be uncle.” 

“Lucas.” 

He nods and picks up his fresh drink, tosses about half the drink back in one go, 

“Shit, is it really that stressful?” 

Peter wipes at his mouth, 

“Well damn, I don’t know. I mean it’s official now, isn’t it?” 

Lucas stares at him, 

“Haven’t you been together like, ten years?” 

Peter laughs, 

“Touché. But now it’s like, kids, and mortgages and granny panties, you know?” 

Lucas wrinkles his nose, 

“I don’t.” 

“Shit, sorry man,” he downs his drink. 

“Where’s your like, best man?” Lucas asks awkwardly. 

Peter snorts, 

“My brother? Probably fucking one of the bridesmaids. He’s terrible it’s advice. You’re, you’re pretty good kid.” He gestures for another drink and Lucas grabs his arm, 

“You’ve had enough, Don’t you think?” 

Peter stares at him, 

“You know what. You’re right.” 

“I’ll take a water, and get him another beer,” Peter tells the bartender. 

Lucas, never one to turn down free booze, finishes his beer and starts another. They chat idly, and the interrogation that Lucas expects to come, doesn’t, though he figures it’s because Peter is a bit too drunk to talk about anything but himself. 

By the time Lucas finishes his beer, he checks his watch, 

“So, what time were you supposed to be back at the church?” 

Peter looks at his own watch, 

“Shit. Like a half hour ago.” 

Lucas stands up and yanks Peter to his feet, 

“Jesus man, lets go.” 

He helps Peter back across the street, and up the stairs and then hurries to duck into the chapel before he gets stopped again. Unfortunately he’s not so lucky. This time, it’s very clearly the bride, Heather. She’s got her own drink in her hand, and he can’t help but think, who gets drunk and goes to a church? The thought is hilarious because he sure as hell would, but he just thought that’s because he’s not very religious. 

She’s not in her dress yet, but a skimpy white silk robe and slippers, 

“Well you must be Lucas,” she drawls in a southern accent, and he desperately tries to remember where she’s from. 

She looks like Ms.Mayfield a little bit, though shorter and stockier, with a wide smiling face, and a short red bob, with blunt bangs, 

“Yes ma’am.” 

“Aw, polite. I see why Holly likes you,” she holds out a hand, “I’m Heather.” 

“Nice to meet you. Congratulations.” 

“Thank you, though I think you’re supposed to wait until after the wedding to say that. Are you treating my Maxie Moo Moo well?” 

Lucas can’t help but snort, 

“I like to think so ma’am.” 

She smiles, 

“She really likes you, you know. She talks about you a lot.” 

He raises an eyebrow, 

“Really?”

“Of course silly. She missed my bridal shower so she could go to that stupid championship game of yours of some bullshit, oh shit, shoot, I can’t swear, I’m in a church,” she waves her hand, “Lord forgive me. But yeah, I was, hurt of course, but then I remembered young love. And supposedly you won, so it was worth it.” 

Lucas just stares at her. Her eyes are brown, unlike Ms.Mayfield’s, 

“Don’t you break her heart, do you hear me?” She punctuates it with an acrylic to his chest and he nods, swallowing hard, 

“I won’t ma’am.” 

The wedding is beautiful, and by the time the bridal party gets to the reception, he’s eaten about fifty appetizers, and drank three flutes of champagne, bored out of his goddamn mind. No one tries to talk to him and he truly wouldn’t have it any other way. 

He’s thankful when at least Max gets there. She looks exhausted, and she collapses into the chair next to him. 

“How are you doing?” She asks, a bit breathlessly. 

“Better than you apparently.” 

“Heather is a total drama queen and pictures took forever,” she looks around, “I’m fucking starving, and my feet are killing me.” 

He’s not ready for her to drop her foot in his lap,  
“Take this off,” she says, flagging down a waiter. 

She takes four flutes of champagne off the tray with a wry smile to match the look of judgement the waiter gives her, as he unstraps her shoe. She’s finished a flute by the time he grabs her other ankle and does not think about how soft her skin is, and she nudges two towards you, 

“These aren’t all for me you know.” 

“I’d hope not,” he teases. 

She rolls her eyes, 

“Fuck off.” 

Once her heels are off, she rolls her ankles. 

“Aren’t you supposed to be up there?” He asks, gesturing to the table at the front of the hall.

“I told them I couldn’t leave my boo,” she says, waving down the waitress and grabbing an absurd amount of spinach bites. 

Lucas watches as she pops them in her mouth absurdly fast and he can’t help but laugh. She smacks his arm, 

“Shut up, I haven’t eaten all day.” 

“No judgement,” Lucas says holding his hands up. 

They’ve both finished their champagne when her grandparents come up to them. Lucas tenses immediately and Max puts a hand on his thigh, 

“Nana, Papa, how’s it going?” 

“Good,” says her grandmother with a smile, “You haven’t introduced us to your friend,” she says cooly. 

Lucas looks toward Max, who looks a bit pissed, much to his surprise, 

“He’s not a friend, he’s my boyfriend. Lucas Sinclair.”

He reaches out a hand, which is pointedly ignored. 

“I didn’t know you had time to date with school and everything. Studying is very important.” 

Lucas’ thigh jumps and she squeezes tighter,

“Actually Lucas is a few GPA points above me. We do a lot of studying,” she says sharply. 

“Ooh. That’s, nice,” her grandmother says. 

“It is. He’s very smart,” Max snaps. 

Lucas places his hand over hers. 

“Well, we’d better go see how your mother is doing. Hopefully one of you girls has a boyfriend, it’s been the two of you for too long,” she says, pointedly ignoring Max’s comments. 

Max splutters and Lucas is afraid she’s going to claw his hand to shreds, so he squeezes hers gently. 

“Nice to meet you all, hopefully we’ll be seeing you again ma’am,” he looks over to her grandpa and nods, “sir.” 

They exchange a look again, 

“Bye Maxine.” 

Immediately once they’re out of earshot she turns to him, face red, eyes a bit glassy, 

“I am so sorry, I am so fucking sorry.” 

Lucas shrugs, 

“It’s okay.” 

“It’s not okay. It’s not,” she says fiercely. 

“You’re right, it’s not. But it’s not your fault. You tried to defend me.” 

“Not well enough apparently.” 

“Hey,” he rubs her shoulder, “more champagne?” 

She laughs, 

“A man after my own heart.” 

Max is wasted. He thinks Ms.Mayfield is also wasted, but she’s across the room so he can’t tell. But Max. The girl is flushed red, her hair is falling, she’d eaten all of the roasted potatoes off of his plate which were actually super good, and she’d put her feet in his lap about halfway through sinner, draping over him, complaining about them not playing good music. 

The first dance was over awhile ago, and the dance floor is full of dancing patrons, but apparently it’s not enough for Max. When Uptown Funk comes on, she nearly kicks him in the face, scrambling to get up and then nearly falls, in her drunken haste. 

Lucas has no choice but to follow her onto the dance floor. She can’t dance but she looks like she’s having the best time of her life, which makes her look beautiful. The upbeat songs continue for awhile, but it’s long before a slow song comes on. While it’s not ‘All of Me’, it is ‘Wanted’ and Max has no qualms about wrapping her arms around his neck. 

He on the other hand, slowly winds his arms around her waist, and then begin dancing. She keeps glancing up at him under her lashes and smiling, and his gut is definitely twisting. 

It’s not surprising when the clinking starts, but it’s startling for a moment. He’s not expecting Max to step up on her tip toes and press a kiss to his mouth, but he can’t help but respond. She pulls away first, eyes wide. And he stares down at her, pretty sure the entire world has stopped turning on it’s axis, but before any other kisses can be had or anything else can be said, Ms.Mayfield stumbles up, grabbing onto his shoulder, 

“Lucas we’ve gotta go before I puke on this rented dress.” 

He nods, and let’s go of Max who is a touch slower to let go of him, and then he lets them each link their arms through one of his elbows and helps them to the car. He gets Max in first because she seems more sober than her mother in that moment, and he takes off his suit coat.

He helps her put it on so the risk of her puking on the dress is lower and straps her in, 

“You’re so sweet Lucas. Max picked a good one.” 

He smiles, 

“I’m glad you think so Ms.Mayfield.” 

“Holly, please,” she insists. 

He nods, and loops around to drive them home. They get there with no puking thank god, and he helps them into the house. He leads them each to their rooms, and Ms.Mayfield flops on her bed, 

“Have a good night ma’am,” he says, backing out. 

She grabs his arm and pulls him closer to her and god her breath smells like booze, 

“You’re very good to my daughter.” 

“Thank you ma’am.” 

“Holly,” she tries to say, but her eyes are already closed. 

He heads to Max’s room next. She’s at least made it out of her dress, and is in pj shorts and a T-shirt, 

“You gonna tuck me in, Sinclair?” She asks looking up at him. 

He nods, and she climbs into bed and he pulls the blankets up to her chin. They sit there for a moment, just staring at each other. 

“Will you kiss me again?” She asks softly, voice slow with liquor. 

Lucas lets his finger tips brush her forehead as he pushes her hair out of her face, 

“If you still feel that way on Monday then I will,” he says back just as softly. 

She looks up at him, biting her lip, 

“Deal.” 

He smiles, and leans down to kiss her on her forehead because he can’t help it, and she smiles, 

“I’ll see you later Lucas.” 

“See you later Maxie Moo Moo.” 

Her blue eyes widen and her jaw drops and she tosses a pillow at him, 

“Never, never say that again.” 

He winks at her, 

“We’ll see.”

He shuts off her light and shuts her door and pulls his phone out of his pocket; and texts Dustin as he shuts and locks their door behind him, sliding the house key back under the door. 

From: Your Number  
To: Dustin 

I like Max Motherfucking Mayfield.


End file.
